Winner of This Week's Free Ticket Contest

Congratulations Roger, you and a guest will be seeing The Belle of Winnipeg at the Winchester Street Theatre tonight at 8 pm. All Roger did to win these two free tickets was send us an email with the subject line: “The Belle of Winnipeg Contest”.

Everyone will have another chance to win free tickets to a different show this Monday November 9, as a new contest will be posted on this site then.

In the meantime you can buy tickets to The Belle of Winnipeg for a mere $22, and only $17.50 if you’re a student/senior/unemployed etc.

For more information see the press release below:

Keystone Theatre proudly presents the World Premiere of
The Belle of Winnipeg: A Stage Meets Silent Film Extravaganza!

An innovative production that melds a newly developed style of physical performance with film projection and live musical accompaniment, The Belle of Winnipeg is a new original play inspired by the silent film era. The culmination of over four years of collective creation this production combines physicality with a group of engaging characters to introduce a new vocabulary of theatrical expression in silence – save for the live accompaniment of a piano.

The Belle of Winnipeg tells the story of a young woman named Belle, played by Ginette Mohr (Fish Face – Playwrights Theatre – Clutch Theatre Award, A Bird’s Eye View – Theatre LMNOP – Dora Nomination). It is 1882 and our heroine has been shipped off from her comfortable life in France to an arranged marriage in the wilds of Canada. Unimpressed with her new life in Montreal, Belle escapes her wedding only to find herself stranded smack dab in the middle of the dangerous and foreboding frontier town of Winnipeg. From the old CP railways, to drunken bar room brawls, to a well-intentioned tramp lousing up simple jobs, to a damsel in distress being tied to the train tracks, Belle is a hilarious, exciting and often touching production.

Director Richard Beaune (Trapped in Taffeta – Simple Truth Theatre – Canadian Comedy Award, Flowers for Algernon – Simple Truth Theatre – Jenny Award) says “The style that we’ve created is character driven comedy inspired by the high contrasts perfected by the masters of the silent film era. The characters were all created from a base of physicality so they have a tremendously dynamic presence. This allows us to create situational comedy that is high impact and can be communicated sans language without having to resort exclusively to slapstick and pratfalls…not to say that we don’t have any.”

The only “voice” in the play is that of the piano, played by Keystone’s Music Director, Universal Music Canada award winner David Atkinson. In Belle Atkinson both composes and draws from a variety of sources to create a live score that skillfully harkens back to the silent film era with some well placed modern flare.

By bringing this blend of physical performance, live music and filmic elements to the stage and presenting it in an environment that is designed and costumed in black, white and shades of grey, Keystone Theatre will treat audiences to a classic form of entertainment in an entirely new way.

Details:The Belle of Winnipeg is playing at the Winchester Street Theatre (80 Winchester Street). There is a preview on Nov. 4 at 8pm. It then runs from: Nov. 5-7 at 8pm. Nov. 11-14 at 8pm. There are special PWYC performances on Sunday Nov. 8 & Nov. 15 at 2pm